The best home cinema set ups in the world today

You've just won the lottery, you've decided that you need a home cinema installed in your house, where do you start? Well one suggestion is to look at the winners of this year's CEDIA awards.

Standing for Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association, CEDIA is an organisation of experienced companies involved in the design and installation of Home Cinema and electronic systems in the home.

Each year they vote for the best setups in a range of categories such as best media room under £15,000, to best home cinema system to under £40,000 to best integrated home over £250,000 to name a few.

Here are some of the Home Cinema set-ups that you will wish you had in your home.

Subterranean - £35,000

Sometimes you still want a lounge as well as a cinema experience. This set-up includes five Genelec W26 active in-wall speakers, which sit behind and beside and behind a 110-inch, 16:9 Screen Excellence acoustically transparent screen.

The audio system features a Genelec HTS4B active subwoofer. Sound is processed by an ADA audio processor.

Video signal is taken care of by a Digital Projection iVision30 Projector and the room is controlled with some clever interfacing between a Philips Pronto remote and Crestron processor.

Created by FAB Audio Visual

The Grey Room - £65,000

Designed for an avid film collector with a passion for Japanese films.

Audio is delivered by two Genelec subwoofers at floor level and three Genelec active monitors located behind a 120-inch Screen Excellence acoustically-transparent screen.

If that wasn't enough six Genelec active speakers, mounted adjacent to the three rows of seats, further enhance the sound quality which is processed by an Onkyo SC-866 controller and an Audyssey Multi EQ.

Video is taken care of by a JVC HD100 D-ILA projector, complete with Schneider anamorphic lens for widescreen authenticity. Amongst the choice of video sources is a Denon DVD, Blu-ray and Sky+ HD, of course.

A Kaleidescape media server brings together the client’s massive collection of over 1500 DVDs meaning he/she doesn't have to struggle to find the right disc.

On selection of a video source; the electric blackout blinds drop, the projector and amplification turn on, the lights dim.

Created by: FAB Audio Visual

Keston Home Theatre - £98,000

One swipe over the biometric scanner and the Crestron touchpanel releases from the dock and the lights dim to their "take your seats" preset. Once seated, the clients can enjoy the full media arsenal, including Kaleidescape media server and Blu-ray.

Giving you an totally immersive experience, tactile transducers fitted to the cinema’s seats literally shake in time with the soundtrack’s base and are controllable by the touch panel under the heading "more or less rumble".

A Runco 1080p projector partnered with a Screen Research THX ISF 2.35:1 Multi Mask Screen deliver the picture, whilst Triad in-wall speakers and subwoofers pack the desired audio punch, and yes, it is in the client's loft.

Created by: Imagine This

Essex Cinema @home - £45,000

The brief was straightforward; to recreate a public cinema experience, through a dedicated home cinema, installed into an unused outbuilding.

Those looking to replicate the look in their house should remember to add the carefully-considered touches like the curtains across the screen, the tiered seating, the walkway into the room and the rope across the entrance, all of which goes towards delivering a cinematic experience which is as close as possible to that of visiting your local multiplex.

Amplification is via a Denon A1XV, while visuals provided by a Pixel Magic System Crystalio HD video processor with a JVC Dila HD1 projector and a 200-inch Stewart StudioTek 130 screen. The grapes unfortunately aren't edible.

Created by Projecting & Sounding Art

Gentleman's Club - £150,000

The only condition to this brief was that the final build was not to disturb the guy's groundskeeper that lived in the same out-house. The Gentleman's Club features an ADA Suite 7.1 controller and a Dolby Lake sound equalizer.

Six Genelec AIW25 active speakers are used for rears: four mounted adjacent to the two rows of seats and two in the back wall, either side of the projection porthole.

The room is controlled by a dedicated Crestron CP2E processor and TPMC-8X touchscreen remote.

The Digital Projection Titan 720P DLP projector and ISCO 3 anamorphic lens means you can choose from a range of sources, including a Kaleidescape player and 1U video server, a Sky+ HD box, an Xbox Elite games console and even a Nintendo Wii.

And to keep that groundskeeper happy? The internal walls were treated with acoustic absorbers and diffusers and the room was fitted with double acoustic doors.

Created by FAB Audio Visual

Kingston Home Theatre - £200,000

When you need to go big, this might just be the answer. The Kingston Home Theatre features a 140-inch Screen Research Curved X-Mask screen, used in conjunction with a Runco VX22D projector with a McKinley motorised anamorphic lens to optimise 2.35:1 and 16:9 images.

Procella loudspeakers have been used and its all controlled via a Philips Pronto remote control.

A Niveus ProN4 media server, with its dual 500GB hard drive, provides storage for the client’s extensive DVD and Blu-ray collection and Sky HD and PS3 complete the range of high definition sources.

Saleem Residence - £250,000+

We know what you are thinking. Tron right? But if you've got the same kind of money that you would spend on a house just for your home cinema kit, then you can start to create something like this.

“I don’t want a home cinema; I want a cinema in my home” said the owner of this set-up, and that's what he got. The 3400 sq.ft cinema sits around 50 people and is all controllable via a remote.

Powered by a D-Cine Premiere DP90 2K digital cinema projector by Barco and a curved screen, the front speakers and subwoofers have been positioned behind the perforated screen whilst a Tannoy Vnet active speaker system, fed through a Meridian 861 surround sound processor brings the noise. The AV system is complemented by a Kaleidescape movie server. If that wasn't enough to impress the cinema boasts its own, dedicated control room which has been made a separate AC zone to ensure reliability; despite outside temperatures of over 122 °F in Pakistan, where this system happens to be.

Created by Synergy Technologies,

Popcorn anyone?

FAB Audio Visual images by Trevor Burton.

To find a CEDIA trained representative in your area check out the CEDIA website

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Stuart has been a tech journalist since 1998 and written for a number of publications around the world. Regularly turning up on television, radio and in newspapers, Stuart has played with virtually every gadget available.